Andhra Pradesh tenders for 1,000 MW of solar power projects

According to reports, close on the heels of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh has called for investors to put up ‘about 1,000 MW’ of solar power projects in the State.

Andhra Pradesh’s transmission utility, APTRANSCO, has put out a list of substations and the solar power capacity that each of them can take. Bidders are to bid up to that capacity at that location. (The total capacity adds up to 1,160 MW.) Bids could be put in for multiple locations — one bid for each location — subject to a cap of 20 MW per bidder.

The ‘request for selection’ bid documents will have to be submitted to the State’s power transmission utility, APTRANSCO, by January 19, 2013.

With this, solar power programmes are active in three States — Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. While Rajasthan has only 200 MW, the other two States have tendered for projects worth 1,000 MW each.

“Tamil Nadu enables very low tariff quotes as it allows developers to bid for high capacities. Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, provides developers clarity on transmission capacity at each sub-station,” observes Vineeth Vijayaraghavan, Founder-editor, Panchabuta, a renewable energy industry newsletter.

Bank guarantee: Tamil Nadu asks for Rs 30 lakh per MW as performance bank guarantee. Andhra Pradesh has left it open. The bank guarantee will be on the basis of the difference between the commercially viable tariff that will be determined by a committee and the quoted tariff — which means, the lower the quoted tariff, the higher the guarantee, in order to force the developer to build the plant.